Confusion about web developing ..

Azzam,

CMSs like Drupal, PHP-Nuke, and Joomla are designed to streamline the process of publishing and managing Web content on a site. They are developed by industry experts, are battle tested, and are relatively easy to implement and modify. You should find that setting up a simple blogging system like Wordpress is simple enough, but sometimes you'll want to make some modifications to the aesthetics, functionality, and usability of the system; this is where your Web development and Web design skills come into play!

There's absolutely nothing wrong with using a CMS, but there are plenty of examples of times that you would want to customize the system's front-end design for a more personalized look and feel to your site. What's more, by learning the material covered in the Become a Web Developer course (as well as other related courses), you'll begin to learn how to work with preexisting Web software packages, and you'll be able to start learning more about how to design for and update current systems. Zach Gordon's Wordpress courses are excellent examples of learning how to work with a CMS, and his How to Build a Wordpress Theme is an excellent example of a course that covers how to get started working with preexisting CMSs to customize them for your needs!

Hope that answers some of your questions! Feel free to let me know if you'd like me to elaborate at all...

Cheers,

J.T.

i think you covered good points in my doubts. thanx alot.

i want to ask a question that i tried to get answers for and it lead me to CMS and then i got lost .. etc etc..

how i can deal with a website that i built with what i learned from here ( become web developer coursers ) i meant with dealing "adding content and updating it later on.. also getting to manage my website overall" whats the tools i will need ? do i need to download and re upload html&css files every time i need to add or modify my web site ?

<3 treehouse environment ..

A lot of CMSs store content in a database on the server on which they are installed. For example, a Wordpress site installed fresh on your server from Wordpress.org uses a MySQL database to store its content. So, when it comes to updating blog posts, web pages, etc. on your blog, you wouldn't need to upload individual HTML files to your server every time; you'd use the CMS's backend to create and manage content that's stored in your server's database; the CMS would take care of the PHP mysql_query() (preferably mysqli_query()) requests to SELECT, INSERT, or UPDATE content in your database's tables.

If that seems confusing to you, you might check out Andrew's Database Foundations course that goes into the specifics of how a MySQL database works. All you need to know is that almost all CMSs take care of querying your database for you; that's why they're so nice to work with!

Hope that helps!

J.T.

@azzam -

I build and operate several Wordpress sites, and have deployed them for many clients over the years.

Some have been basic blogs, but many of them have had complex functionality, such as e-commerce, membership sites, client portals, and so forth.

A lot of people love Drupal and Joomla... personally, I am a big fan of Wordpress. There are a lot of "big" (in terms of traffic and popularity) sites that run Wordpress. Also, WP ( as well as Joomla and Drupal, etc. ) have extensions and plug-ins that can add a lot of the interactivity and features you may be looking to add.

For Wordpress, look into Buddypress -- its a free, out-of-the-box social network plug-in that lets people have profiles and do blogging, etc.

By default, a regular install of wordpress (no extra plug-ins) already allows anyone to register and add content to the site (depending on the permissions you set). Extra plug-ins or premium themes might help add-to/extend that feature.

My main reasons for leaning towards wordpress are these: *It's Easy *It has a good User Interface and is easy to learn (Joomla is kindof confusing) *There are a TON of well-supported free and premium themes and plug-ins. (you don't actually need to build your site from scratch... you can buy existing stuff for SUPER cheap and modify it a little to make it your own... far faster and easier for someone starting out). *It's SUPER easy to find developers, familiar with WP, to help you out if you get stuck *Treehouse has tutorials to help you learn to do this

...and finally, the realistic truth:

You don't have a site at the moment. When you built it, it is going to take a LOT of marketing and effort to build it up to a "medium" site... seriously. It's hard to build a robust community online. Going overboard on a website development project will crash the project, even before it takes off.

As an owner of 3 e-commerce sites, a developer, and experienced online marketer, I'll tell you this:

1) Identify the audience you want to serve. 2) Make sure your idea serves them well and will be worth using/buying (try to get some research on this). 3) Check out the competition and see if you have a legitimate competitive advantage. 4) THEN... plan and release the site in versions.

Step 1. Get the BASICS online... what's the easiest and cheapest thing you can start with. Step 2. Once you build some visitors, and hopefully revenue, upgrade it. Step 3. Continue upgrading and customizing a little at a time.... regular, manageable, bite-sized improvements.

Finally... when you've learned a lot about development, your market/audience, your business, and competition, you;ll be in a good place to decide if you want to(or need to) upgrade to a new CMS, or to build your own CMS from the ground-up.

It's sooo cheap and easy to build pretty much any kind of website with Wordpress and some plug-ins + some HTML/CSS, and graphic design knowledge (and EXTRA good to know javascript/jquery and PHP if you want to get into customizations).

Start with simple. Expand from there.

really helpful guys thanx

hello teamtreehouse community blake jackovitch is my name. I am having trouble with basic concepts if someone could please message me back with some support that would be much apreciated.